I assume your're following this Thread with interest in how NO Negative Feedback in the push pull ZMA, with no circuit boards, Cryo Jupiter Caps with Tube Regulation can sound/do for your Music?! The ZMA sounds like my SE84CS SET Amp, but with the Power of 125 watts per channel.This I discerned in its 30th hour! I now have 43 hours on it.

1) It won't be going back.2) I would own a 75 watt or higher push pull Tube Amp, if it made better music than my ZMA. I have listened to a few in the 8 to 12k range...they sound like Solid State...because of the necessary feedback needed and their being sooooo NOT, Steve's Topology. ...like I said above, SE84CS/CKC....with Power.

I don't blame you for modifying the Polk LS-70. I still remember them compared to the LS-90's/we salesman-did not like them. I sold them at Audio King back in 93'....kinda like an Ultimate Electronics, but with more class.

Anyway, the LS-90's I do have tweeked with necessary large Tiptoe's Spikes under the Speaker's. However, sandwiched between the Tiptoe Cone and the Speaker base, I have 28 lb Vibrapods for each Tiptoe. Night and day Tonal Balance adjustment to the Speaker. Furthermore, for complete Resonance Control, I have 2 Megafeet/Mapleshade Brass Weights on top of each Speaker. You have to be careful with weight on top....not to over do it. End result? ...a great Speaker....that has great driver's....but needed help with the weak enclosure. The LS-70 might not suffer the same issue....with your upgrades to it.

....throw, some good Room Treatment in & Power Treament (you don't need to kill the mosquito with a Sledge Hammar), my Front End & Kimber Select...I have my Nirvana. I also rotate two pair of other Speakers in the Listening Room. I am considering making it 4 pair, with the HR-1 Omni's -Stone

Stone, I'm running a modded Jolida 502 P at 60 watts. This amp is the 6550 power tubed version not the El34 version. My Polk 70's I wasn't impressed with in stock form. I don't suffer with any cabinet problems as you have mention with your 90's. Mostly driver and crossover modifications needed to correct the LS 70's now very nice. There is no longer a speaker buried in a blanket sound to them. I'm running 60 watts at 4 ohms thru these and a pair of Pioneer HPM 100's. The Pioneers weaknesses may lay in the upper ranges where my Polks with the Morel drivers are very strong. The bass in the HPM 100's with 12" drivers are shining on the bottom end. Need to gut the mids and highs on the 100's and just put a low pass in and use them that way would be nice. Yes, I am following the ZMA do to my future interest in owning. I like hearing your and Ravens perspectives of these amps and learning more about your backgrounds on sound in order to make assessments of what is being observed in these amps. I have been around live music for a good number of years when I was younger and spent about 5 years in recording and mixing music as a hobby. My days of playing guitar ended some years back do to life changes and time and energy restraints. I do very much appreciate quality sounding equipment even with older ears I'm sure my hearing isn't what it used to be anymore. Keep your comments and assessments coming I enjoy reading about them.

Steve, is most certainly in his masterpiece stage of design for his Amplifier's (this/his ZMA). I will not be changing my order to a pair of HR-1's. I can't wait to get the Torii IV. I will figure out a way in the Fall, to purchase the Omni's. -S

At this point, I would be happy with just the ZMA in my system! It's still sitting on the bench waiting for caps to arrive, and then onto QA...

While waiting, I am putting the finishing touches on my room. Will send some pics when I get a chance.

I am glad you guys are enjoying the amp. Your descriptions are causing me great anticipation. SuperZen with more power, weight, harmonics, tone and clarity is exactly what I was looking for. I can't wait to get it onto the rack!

I did some quick math. I'm putting in about 25 hours a week, so I figure I'll hit that 600 hour mark that's been Guestimated as the breakin point in about 5 months.

The honeymoon period has clearly passed - Going from ground zero (less than 5 minutes burn in at Steve's), to where I am now - it's clearly a whole different/better amp. I'm honestly giddy at the thought of what it's going to be like once it blooms.

At this point I'm sure all you future ZMA guys are going to love this - it's a truly amazing machine.

Steve, is most certainly in his masterpiece stage of design for his Amplifier's (this/his ZMA). I will not be changing my order to a pair of HR-1's. I can't wait to get the Torii IV. I will figure out a way in the Fall, to purchase the Omni's. -S

Stone, just place your order for the Omnis now. They won't ship til the fall anyway.

Personally, enjoying the amazing sound of my Omnis right now as I type, I think you need these more than a Mk IV. I mean you have great Decware amps arleady. You need their ultimate speakers. You just might retire one of the other pairs you have. No shit.

Eric you are going to love the sound of the system with the P10. Any further impressions of the power cord?

Not really - I've not had time to really evaluate the power cord, Herbie's speaker footers, or the iso-cups and tenderfeet. They are all in place, but I really don't have time to A/B and play around.

The tube dampers however are a clear difference, both in my room, and when I brought the ZMA over to Palomino's house. I loaned him my spares and he's pretty sure he's going to order a set. The sharpening effect they have I liken to nudging a projector that last 2% from focus, to *perfect* focus.

I figure, P10 and dedicated circuits, Herbie's gear all around, and the room treatments - I have a foundation for an amazing system (any system really). The Oppo - ZMA - MG944 should do well in this room long term.

Cool. I really think the Herbie's stuff (footers and tube dampers) are the icing on the cake after you get the power treatment in hand. I think the P10 is going to make a big impact and after that power cords may make a big impact. I know when I put my Power Plant Premier in I found the sound of every power cord in place to be clearly delineated, sometimes not for the best.

. I know when I put my Power Plant Premier in I found the sound of every power cord in place to be clearly delineated, sometimes not for the best.

I'm kind of worried about that actually. I'm tapped funding wise, and I'm not sure I can afford another $175 power cord that I'll probably need between the P10 and the wall.

Of course, I'll try the Pangea between the P10 and the wall, and my hand braided Zen Styx type wire on the ZMA, and vice versa and see if I can live with that. I might even drop a few bucks and buy some sort of braided shielding or flat copper shielding and re-wrap my Styx type power cable, since PS audio recommends a shielded cable on the P10. Maybe that would help a bit...

I would certainly be happy with Blacker Blacks and sharper focus on top of everything else I have though!

I hear you Lon. I will just straight up order the HR-1's next month. The time table will workout just fine...as you eluded too. I am still getting the Torii IV too....you can find me at 1/06 Larry B.

600 hours?....I know it will get even better LR....but with my Kimber Select 1030 IC & Kimber Select 3035 Speaker Cables...it is the SHit....already....I like taking a great Front End....Cabling....and Decware into my 2K to 4k pair of Speaker's (3 pair alternating)....and make them over achieve. Thus, why, the HR-1 Omni's will be the 4th Pair to grace the Listening Room. All else, is in the Living Room Mid-FI Rig....which does not suck to much. However, it is not the Listening Room with Decware & AA, with Kimber Select, obviously.

I should add, the Torii IV is not coming in to decide whether to keep to the ZMA or IV? It is coming in of its variation. For example, I did not upgrade my SE84CS....because you don't mess with stock perfection. I just got a Super Zen CKC too....which has its own perfection too.

Okay, glad you're going to order the HR-1s. I still don't see why you need a Mk IV with the amps you have, but it's your money to burn! I tried to see why I would need a ZMA with the amps I have and came to the conclusion I don't, I've a great system or two and am holding steady!

I'm kind of worried about that actually. I'm tapped funding wise, and I'm not sure I can afford another $175 power cord that I'll probably need between the P10 and the wall.

Of course, I'll try the Pangea between the P10 and the wall, and my hand braided Zen Styx type wire on the ZMA, and vice versa and see if I can live with that. I might even drop a few bucks and buy some sort of braided shielding or flat copper shielding and re-wrap my Styx type power cable, since PS audio recommends a shielded cable on the P10. Maybe that would help a bit...

I would certainly be happy with Blacker Blacks and sharper focus on top of everything else I have though!

Ah don't worry about it! Just put the best cord you have on the P10 for now, and in time you can add power cords to all the components and you'll really reap the benefits. And you'll have great sound in the meantime. I'm really excited that you're getting the P10, I'm anticipating it will be a game changer.

I'm really excited that you're getting the P10, I'm anticipating it will be a game changer.

Honesty, you're not even the first person to say that to me today - so I am really looking forward to the PS Audio gear. Paul seems to have philosophies that resonate with me, just as Steve does - so I expect good things to come.

Also considering upgrading my source to a PS Audio DAC in the upcoming years. But that's a ways off for now. I need to focus on what I have, especially the room.

I know what you mean, it's like someone famous once saidIn my experience (and boy have I had fun twisting and gropinga round behind the racks experimenting) putting the best cord on the Power Plant yields benefits for all components, I'd try that first.

Stone, glad to hear you are digging the ZMA already. I was holding my breath during the fuse episode.

Herbies rings will be my next purchase. Icing on the cake.

Raven's ZMA is now banned from my house. It's like some guy stopping by with his 20-something trophy wife in a bikini. She walks around your listening room winking at you. Then she blows you a kiss, walks out the door and she's gone.

Seriously, I am looking forward to the next meeting of Rachael and Zen-zilla. I might even have a shielded power cord you can borrow if I can find some connectors (used them for another cord). Also, I have my horns with the Zygi driver combo back in. They go pretty low and I'd love to hear how the ZMA powers them.

Raven's ZMA is now banned from my house. It's like some guy stopping by with his 20-something trophy wife in a bikini. She walks around your listening room winking at you. Then she blows you a kiss, walks out the door and she's gone.

Well, except for the bikini, I pretty much have that going for me with Brianne as well. :)

Quote:

Seriously, I am looking forward to the next meeting of Rachael and Zen-zilla. I might even have a shielded power cord you can borrow if I can find some connectors (used them for another cord). Also, I have my horns with the Zygi driver combo back in. They go pretty low and I'd love to hear how the ZMA powers them.

I have connectors! I bought a set thinking my Styx style power cable would be good enough and planned on making more, but this Pangea showed me I was wrong.

I like "Zen Zilla" - after out meet, that's kind of the feeling I was getting. It's got some of the classic Zen stuff going on, but on a city crushing scale. ;D

Quote:

In my experience (and boy have I had fun twisting and gropinga round behind the racks experimenting) putting the best cord on the Power Plant yields benefits for all components, I'd try that first.

Ok, I'll dig it out. Its basically the same cord I am using on Rachael. I made two a year or so ago. I was also using the unshielded until recently and one day popped in the shielded and haven't gone back. You can A/B and see if it helps you out.

I just had a moment - I'm not ashamed to admit it, I teared up a bit as I got a bit emotional...over a test CD.

I'm still having some imaging issues in my room, I grab the test disc below (ripped to FLAC) and go through all the phase and soundstage tests...they sound OK at best. Then the music comes on and Vaquero sounds great, I turn it up a little bit...then a little bit more...and soon I'm at 80% on the volume. ZMA is sounding great. The next tunes don't excite me much, and I'm about to either turn it down to background level or off and get some housework done, when I see the Toccata in D-Minor is the last track. I love this piece - it's a classic in Monster Movies, my Mom used to play good portions of it on the piano, and I even transcribed some of it to electric guitar with all the fancy two handed tapping, whammy bar, and special FX that make modern electric guitar so fun.

I guess I was a little unprepared for how good this would sound - I found myself cranking it; ZMA 100% full on, balls out - and I kid you not, I teared up with how beautiful it was. I'm sitting here now all puffy eyed as I type this.

When the ZMA was new, it wasn't as loud as I expected. As it aged and the caps broke in, it got louder and I found myself turning it down more. It also takes a while to warm up, so all of that has something to do with volume perception. I've also found it's input sensitive; if it's a loud recording, it really jumps, but on quieter recordings I find myself cranking it due to lower input from my Oppo (I've not measured, but I believe this test CD was on the quieter side).

If it was clipping, I honestly didn't notice, nor did I bother to look at the meters since I was so in the moment. The ZMA clips rather smoothly as well...in one of my previous posts I mentioned where I was cranking Keith Jarrett...and it was clearly clipping, but in a way that made the piano sound like an electric keyboard, not nails on a chalkboard. So I think it's easier to get into clipping and honestly not notice it.

LR, By chance while at DecFest did you have the opportunity to hear it hooked up to a CSP3? Just wondering how it would sound with the CSP3 up front may also add a bit more gain to it. I've noticed in posts about the Mark IV's that it wasn't an added advantage to have a preamp up front so just wondered about the ZMA. Thanks again for all of your input on the ZMA lots of us are curious about your observations of it. You are the trail blazers. I just wish I was in the position to move on one sooner than later.

No, unfortunately not. Besides the fact that with so many people there I was lucky to get 15-20 minutes to myself, I also only listened to the MK IV and Mystery Amp the way I would at home - which is source, to amp, do MG944.

On my last visit to see Steve, I asked about adding a preamp, and Steve simply said "it would make more things listenable" - which I gather means you can smooth out some rough recordings.

Sorry, I didn't mean to mislead. We didn't do any volume tests per se. I thought I put the volume about the same level as were I put Rachael.

Raven, do you remember where we had the ZMA volume at? Rachael was at 2/3 which is just before clipping. It will routinely play music at over 104db (according to my meter ap). I generally listen in the 80db - 90 db range).

For some reason, my black top Rachael is significantly louder than my white top. I still haven't been able to figure out why. The only difference is the v-caps in the black top.

Anyway, the ZMA was so much fuller at whatever volume it was at, I didn't care about the volume. I don't remember fiddling with it much.

Yeah, I really don't care about volume much either, as long as it's "enough for the recording", which the ZMA has for everything so far (with my MG944)

I don't recall touching the volume knob at all during our meet, and neither of us took measurements, so I can't say either way.

Next time I'll remember to bring my meter - plus my measurement mic, and we can see how accurate our phone db meters are compared to the Radio Shack one I have.

Still no shipping notification on my PS Audio P10 - hopefully I'll have it before the weekend so I can give it a run and start the burn in process. I still have *no idea* where I'm going to put the beast...I doubt my glass shelving will handle it!

About 90% of my listening is done at ‘low’ volume. I am sure I am Preaching to the Choir when I say…there are times when 1) you just want to crank it up 2) the source material has been mastered with minimal/no compression and you want to listen at moderate levels or 3) the recording uses up a good portion of a cd’s dynamic range (e.g. classical) and you want to effectively hear the softer passages and not have the louder passages be compressed/clipped.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the SuperZen doesn’t always excel in the above situations (and likely wasn’t designed to), even with moderately efficient speakers. Part of the reason I purchased the ZMA was because of the additional power. I hypothesize that the ZMA’s extra power/headroom will provide a more satisfying listening experience at low volume because the amp won’t be anywhere close to clipping, even during ‘loud’ transients. The additional power will also give more flexibility in the above situations and enable the amp to drive a broader range of speakers (in case I decide the MG944’s won’t be my last pair of speakers). I am sure the amp clips softly (most tube amps do), but my preference is to avoid clipping altogether.

In summary, I am most excited about the tone and liquidity of the ZMA, but also very excited about the extra power. Amazing tone + more power = winning combination.

What should be ZMA#0005 is now "parts pulled". It's hard not to watch the list every moment. I already have an outlet timer set aside for "6hours on, 6hour off, repeat" burn in. Will wire speakers out of phase, facing each other, and let the music play for a long time. I already know it won't sound as good as my torii3 at first, so I'm tempted to not even compare...But I'm sure curiosity will get the best of me.

I let my MkIV burn in for about 220 hours before bringing it into the main system and it would not have hurt to go more. Though it was fun to listen to before, I think 325-350 may have been the real leveling off area...not any more notable "off" phases, and some nice smoothing and articulation. And wow, you guys have Giant caps for power as well as for coupling.

Dave,

From your comments, I think the Mystery will amaze you compared to the Super Zen. With my Toriis, I really enjoy quieter listening, but if your experience is like mine, you will find yourself listening louder than you might have guessed at times. Aside from the different signature, I am guessing you'll find that pushing some power through those 944 drivers will change your world. They really do respond to the push.

I am in my 69th hour on my ZMA! Having the extra headroom at my beckon call...is so sweet. I just finished: Larry Carlton - Deep Into It. I was deep into it! With the LS90's back in, the ZMA is a combination of power, control, subtlety and agility - for sure.

Picking up on the Polk LS-90 part of the thread...Reply #636 - 02/05/14 at 09:27:07

This reply is to Stone re mods to LS-90s. Sorry in wrong place, but I'm desperate. Cap blew on one, spooged all over the crossover, tweeter driver is fershlugginer. VRMods too busy, need some help fixing, found this here and I can just tell you know how to upgrade these. Any further detail on what you already wrote, or what the best crossover repair would be, much appreciated!

So who's the next couple ZMA owners on the list? I've not been following the build sheet since I received mine - I'm looking forward to others thoughts on the amp. Hopefully they won't let what Stone and I have said influence their thoughts on the amp.

Absolutely LR, I want their gut opinions. I am so glad Steve set me straight with an email...I manned up, got the 7 Amp Fuse in it...and the rest is History. After my momentary lapse of reason...I am glad I did not send the ZMA back an cut my nose off to spite my face.

Here's hoping...Dave1210 & SteveC...whom are communicating with us here...have not much longer of a wait. Cheers, Stone

I should be next. According to Sarah, the amp is near complete, except for caps (not the Red Nuclear NOS's). Apparently, it's a cap they order in small batches and it is taking longer than expected to get the reorder in. Also, the caps are going through a cryo process, and I'm not sure (didn't ask) if the cap supplier is doing the cryo or they are being shipped elsewhere for that. Last I checked (1/24), they were expecting the caps to take another 2 weeks. The wait is pretty painful at this point (I think I placed the order Mid Oct), but I'm sure it will be worth it.

Mine is the last of the Mystery amp group on page 1. Aaron B. I ordered Nov 15th so I don't have as much to complain about but I would love the amp to compare to my Pass Labs xa30.5 and start my speaker search.

Mine as of this morning is the very last line on page 1. I ordered mine in early December. I'm hoping now that the guys are on a roll, mine will follow up with minimum delay after that big log jam on the middle of the build page.

I was the first MK IV shipped and I must say it is sounding real sweet. If the ZMA can sound that good with the added power, I'll be done. Wow, how many times have I said THAT?? My wife will say every time I buy something.